Indian Navy Gets Arnala, First of 16 Anti-Sub Warfare Vessels

Kolkata: Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) delivered INS Arnala, the first among the 16 Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASW SWC) under construction now, to the Indian Navy on Thursday.

Incidentally, the defence PSU was awarded the Raksha Mantri's Award in 2022 for designing Arnala, termed as a ‘most silent ship’ that is named after an island with a historic fort, off the Maharashtra Coast.

With nearly 88% indigenous content, the vessel was built through a PPP model, a first of its kind in India, where a major PSU shipyard collaborated with a capable private shipyard, L&T Kattupalli.

The warship is going to boost the Navy's capability to patrol coastal areas and keep an eye on the enemy submarines. Though smaller in size than the ASW corvettes of the Kamorta Class built and delivered to the Navy by GRSE earlier, INS Arnala belongs to the ASW SWC series which are 77.6-metre-long and 10.5-metre-wide.

Capable of full-scale subsurface surveillance of coastal waters as well as search and attack, they can also carry out coordinated anti-submarine operations with aircraft. They have combat management systems on board, will be armed with lightweight torpedoes as well as anti-submarine warfare rockets and can accommodate 57 personnel including seven officers.

With three water jets (fitted to marine diesel engines), INS Arnala is extremely agile and maneuverable. It requires only a draught of 2.7-metres, allowing her to access the coasts easily in search of sub-surface threats.